


Asterion's Cage

by charybdis



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-10
Updated: 2010-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-09 01:19:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/449661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charybdis/pseuds/charybdis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ariadne's got a brilliant grasp of dream architecture.  It's dorky, but she's always wanted to be Mistress of the Labyrinth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Asterion's Cage

Ariadne's experimenting with a new concept, a building made of nesting layers instead of floors, taking full advantage of the paradoxical nature of dream architecture, when the team ambushes her. Sort of.

Okay, so she'd spread out her project all over the warehouse floor while they went out to get lunch. Whatever. She wasn't expecting them back so soon.

They pause at the door, hands full of food. Yusuf is caught mid-gesture, and an enthusiastic description of sterioisomers dies on his lips. Eames smirks at the expanse of her work. Cobb's eyes go wide as he takes in the apparently senseless layout. Arthur's eyes narrow thoughtfully.

"Hey guys! Sorry about this," she gestures at the cluttered floor, "I needed the space."

They make various noises of understanding, and very carefully edge their way to the other end of the warehouse, where she's shoved the table and chairs.

Over lunch, she explains what she's trying to model, while Cobb nods thoughtfully along with her descriptions. Yusuf keeps glancing over his shoulder, as though he expects the building to rise up behind him like some kind of monster.

When she's explained the model, Eames says, "Very impressive, Ariadne." She smiles, even after he adds, "I couldn't understand half of anything you said, but if the misty-eyed look Cobb's giving you is any indication, it's absolutely brilliant."

Then Arthur says, "What's wrong with it?"

Ariadne is taken aback. "Nothing! I was just trying to figure out how to teach it to you. The team. It's all so clear in my head, but if I have to explain it to the dreamer," she shrugs. "That's harder."

He gives her a long look. _You wouldn't have laid it all out if you weren't looking for some flaw._

"Fine. It's a closed system; there's no way out of the building. Not that it matters," she adds, "the place is so huge, it's practically a world in itself." Damn it, she's blushing.

Thankfully, Cobb steps in and changes the subject. Unfortunately, his idea of a good topic is, "What made you decide on architecture?"

She tries to brush it off. "Oh, you know. I was always fascinated by buildings, even as a kid. My parents had this coffee-table book of the buildings of Detroit, and that was my bedtime storybook for years."

Eames's eyes get all squinty and disbelieving, and she should have known better than to try and lie in front of him. "Is that so?"

"I. Well. Mostly." They're all looking at her now -- even Yusuf has abandoned his contemplation of the deep mysteries of esoteric chemical compounds -- and _damn it_. It's embarrassing, okay? She's _such_ a dork.

"IchosearchitecturebecauseoftheLabyrinthmyth."

Silence. Eames says, "Sorry, didn't quite catch that. You chose it because-?"

"Of. The. Labyrinth. Myth." When in doubt, over-enunciate.

More silence. Then everyone starts talking at once.

"How eclectic." That's Yusuf.

"That's lovely." Eames.

"Really?" Arthur sounds impressed. Maybe.

"There's a myth?"

Everyone turns to stare at Cobb. Arthur says, "Greek mythology. The Minotaur. Dom, how do you not know." His tone says, _you uncultured clod_.

Cobb waves him off, "Right, yeah, I know that. But how does that relate to choosing architecture, Ariadne?"

There's a soft thump as Yusuf's head hits the table. Arthur opens his mouth, but says nothing, apparently shocked into speechlessness by Cobb's ignorance. A quick glance over at Eames confirms that he's doubled up in throes of amusement.

Which leaves her to explain.

"Ariadne was the name of the princess who helped Theseus kill the Minotaur. She was in charge of the Labyrinth, and she gave him a thread so that he could get back out of the maze."

Cobb considers this, then says, "You're named after a princess."

Ariadne's head joins Yusuf's on the table.

****  
She's at the warehouse late that night, trying to work out how to fix the entrance/exit issue.

"Asterion."

Arthur's voice comes out of the darkness behind her. Ariadne flinches, but she stifles the undignified squeak that threatens to burst out, so that's a win. "Sorry?"

"The Minotaur had a name." He comes out of the dark to stand beside her, and there's a small smile hidden in the corner of his mouth as he explains. "It was Asterion."

Ariadne frowns. "Is this... another one of those 'Arthur's unique method of flirting' things? Throwing bits of random Greek trivia at me?"

"It's not random, Ariadne. Asterion's your half-brother."

"Of course. So why's his name important? He's already _the_ Minotaur; there's only one."

Arthur shrugs and walks over to the table where the most important levels are diagrammed and modeled. "Maybe because it's easy to think of the Minotaur as a mindless animal. But you're already calling Asterion 'he'. Like a real person."

Ariadne opens her mouth, realizes she has nothing to say, and closes it again. In a flash of revelation, she thinks, _It's just like his smiles, his sense of humor. Everything important that he has to say is tucked into the corners of his expression._

He looks over her models, picks them up and examines them closely, turning them around in his hands, clearly fascinated. "Like an Escher diagram of a building," he says, almost to himself, "taking advantage of the change in dimensional representation."

Which is exactly what she built the models to do.

"Genius," he mutters.

She might be a little bit in love.

"You think you can dream it?" she asks, mostly to keep herself from saying something stupid.

He puts down the model and returns his attention to her. This time, his smile is challenging. "Think you can fix it?"

Mushy feelings effectively quashed, she smiles back. "Absolutely." Challenge acknowledged and accepted.

As he leaves, retreating back into the darkness, he says, over his shoulder, "You know, the only way out of the Labyrinth was the exact way in."

_Of course._ Ariadne turns back to her paradox building and lets herself discover the solution.

**Author's Note:**

> For [this prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/inception_kink/4946.html?thread=5926482#t5926482) on the inception kink meme.


End file.
